Description:

Arthur Chester


Chester A. Arthur, Collector of the Port of New York, DS Appointing Female Customs Inspector 1 Year before He was Fired by Pres. Hayes

 

1p partly printed and partly handwritten document signed by future 21st U.S. President Chester A. Arthur (1829-1886) as "C.A. Arthur" at lower right, then in his capacity as Collector of the Port of New York. At top, a patriotic vignette depicts a bald eagle framed between the Capitol Building and White House. Bearing a red embossed "Port of New York / Collector of Customs" seal at lower left. Expected paper folds, wrinkles, and marginal closed tears, else very good to near fine. Overall toning. 8.625" x 11.

 

On October 1, 1877, at the Customs House in the Merchants' Exchange Building on Wall Street in New York City, Collector of the Port of New York Chester A. Arthur confirmed the appointment of a female inspector.

 

"United States of America.

 

Certificate of Appointment.

 

This is to certify, That Gennie Ferris having been confirmed by the Secretary of the Treasury as Female Inspector of Customs in and for the District of New York, State of New York, is authorized to exercise and perform the duties of the said office, in accordance with the laws of the United States and regulations of the Treasury Department, and his authority will be respected accordingly until his appointment is revoked.

 

Given under my hand and seal of office at the Custom House, in the city of New York this First day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy seven.

 

[signed] C.A. Arthur

 

Collector."

 

18th U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant had appointed Arthur Collector of the Port of New York in 1871. Already a successful New York lawyer, Arthur was an up-and-coming career politician and protegee of Republican Party "Stalwart" boss Roscoe Conkling. This appointment was actually and symbolically the most corrupt one in the city. The Customs Collector benefited twice from New York City's thriving postwar patronage system. First, the politically motivated appointment was often bestowed as a reward to a Party favorite. Second, the position was extremely lucrative because of a spoils system of kickbacks. Everyone from party machine bosses to lowly city bureaucrats benefited from this systemic cronyism, and Arthur was no exception.

 

Arthur's starting salary as Collector of the Port of New York was $6,500 a year, but with "moiety" payments (representing a percentage of all collected customs), Arthur's salary exceeded $50,000 per annum. This exceeded the salary of President Grant, and is over $1,000,000 in 2018 currency! The Customs Collector managed hundreds of customs agents, like Gennie Ferris, who searched passengers and vessels for contraband goods and collected port fees and tariffs.

 

After 1874 reforms, Arthur's salary dropped down to a more reasonable salary of $12,000, but several years later incoming 19th U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes implemented a complete clean-up effort. An 1877 commission found that the Customs department was grossly mismanaged and overstaffed; Hayes fired Arthur in 1878.

 

Genevieve "Gennie" Ferris was listed as a female inspector, or "inspectress," in New York City between 1870-1901. Ferris received $3 per day, as listed in the 1870 Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval in the Service of the United States, to search suspicious female passengers. Ferris made national newspapers in 1882 after she discovered a cache of undeclared luxury fashion articles smuggled in by "milliners and modistes" traveling from Liverpool. The February 6, 1882 issue of West Coast Times reported: "…Mrs Gennie Ferris, a female Customs' inspector…found a few articles, pieces of lace and silk, concealed on the ladies, but when she began to examine the other goods in the trunks she seemed like a magician from the manner in which she brought forth rare fabrics from where they did not seem to be."

 

A remarkable document about a rare female Customs inspector, signed by future President Arthur on the eve of his dismissal as New York City Customs Collector!

 



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